


Sleep in Heavenly Peace

by RandomReader13



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Catholic Jason Todd, Christmas, Christmas fic, Fluff, Gen, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Protective Jason Todd, Sort Of, and a Crime Boss, hand-wavey timeline, hints of Jewish character, there are hints, this could conceivably happen in canon I guess, this was from a tumblr prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 12:26:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17121338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomReader13/pseuds/RandomReader13
Summary: Christmas one-shot of Jason being great with street kids!





	Sleep in Heavenly Peace

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the prompt and I obviously changed it around to fit: You threw a snowball and it hit me/my window and I was going to be mad but you’re really cute. Do you want to come in for hot chocolate?  
> I was trying to figure out what accent a Gothamite would have and tbh it's in southern Jersey and I'm from central Jersey and its only really the people from north Jersey who have that sort of NY/stereotypical NJ accent so idk!! Use your imagination! :D

 

Jason wandered out of the alley, hands shoved in his pockets and shoulders hunched slightly despite his thermally insulated tactical gear. No matter how well his gear did its job, the cold of a Gotham city winter didn’t just leave you. Even the people sitting inside their apartments felt it, slinking around the windows and brushing its fingers down their spines. It had sunk into his bones his first winter on the streets and hadn’t let go, not even after the burning Pit or the scorching desert he had called home for a few years. Jason skirted around a snow drift, sloppily shoved onto the sidewalk by the single snowplow that ever came down these streets. There were a few kids that went around, broken snow shovels and ratty brooms and garbage can lids in hand, offering to clear sidewalks and side-streets for a few bucks. But the people sitting in their apartments and kids with semi-warm winter coats weren’t why he was here.

Jason turned a corner and raised one eyebrow -- hidden safely under his helmet -- at the man walking down the street. He was clearly out of place here, his hurried steps and swiveling head making him stand out almost more than the heavy coat and winter boots that were way too high-quality for anyone from the Bowery. Bowery people didn’t walk: they stalked, they slunk, they flitted from doorway to doorway. They kept their heads and eyes down and minded their own business; doing anything else could get you killed. A few people were walking down the street, enough that most would have missed the careful maneuvering of a small body towards the idiot. Jason smirked and leaned against the building. Anyone from the Bowery could spot a pickpocket a mile away, but this guy. This guy had no chance.

A scuffle, small body bouncing off long legs, high-pitched apologies, the flap-patter of sneakers so old they were falling apart bouncing off concrete, and the kid disappeared into an alley. Jason pushed off the wall and followed casually. He got a few covert looks, striding along the street in full gear when the sun wasn’t even all the way down, but no one made a fuss or tried to follow him or take his picture -- people from Midtown were  _ weird _ \-- and he slipped into the alley, sliding into the shadows between the buildings like a second skin. He kept his footsteps silent, ears peeled. About midway down the alley, squeezed between the wall and a dumpster, a kid sat, riffling through a wallet. Jason slowly crouched down and tilted his head, watching them. It took a minute before the kid looked up, they were so focused on counting the bills they had scored. She -- Jason could tell it was a girl now that he was up close -- squeaked in surprise, clutching the wallet to her chest.

“Hey there,” Jason said, the modulation of his helmet making his voice sound robotic and a bit deeper than it really was. Her hand scrabbled along the ground, searching for a rock or piece of glass. “Easy,” Jason lifted his hands in surrender, easily falling back into his natural street accent. “I’m not gonna take your loot, ya won it fair ‘n square.”

Her hand slowed and Jason relaxed a bit before realizing she was looking behind him. He tensed but before he could spin around, something hit the back of his head. Something wet and cold that started dripping down the collar of his jacket. Jason took a minute to ponder what his life was coming to before slowly turning around. Two kids, obviously street from the grime on their faces and the state of their clothes, were staring at him. They both looked about ready to piss themselves, but both were holding snowballs at the ready. Jason slowly stood up and the kids wavered, the taller one taking an aborted step backwards.

“Seriously?” Jason asked, the modulator making his voice even flatter.

“S- stay the fuck away from ‘er!” the taller one called. His voice cracked and Jason cocked his head to one side, unimpressed.

“I don’ hurt kids.”

“Then you won’ mind steppin’ off!” the shorter one said. Jason sighed and lifted his arms. Apparently this was too much for them because the shorter kid -- they were wearing a winter hat and baggy clothes so Jason couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl -- launched their snowball with surprising force and  _ damnit _ there were  _ definitely _ rocks in that thing.

“I’m just takin’ off my helmet kid, chill the fuck out.” Jason wasn’t concerned about cursing around the kids, they’ve definitely heard it all the street already. His helmet hissed a tiny bit as he pulled it off -- screw the others who laughed at his ‘extraness’ of wearing a domino under the helmet, they didn’t get it -- and Jason raised an eyebrow at the kids. “See? I’m not a monster or nothin’.”

The boy snorted. “Sure, as if that means anythin’.” Well...the kid had a point, he couldn’t argue with that.

Jason held his helmet under his arm and tilted his head at the kids. He could see it had gotten to them too, the cold. It shone in their eyes with a specific kind of desperation, a hunger and fear you just didn’t find in kids with homes, even if they were shitty ones. He hesitated. Ah, what the hell, he could wait a bit to check up on the working girls.

“You guys hungry?”

The snowball smashed into his mostly bare face and Jason took a moment to be thankful that at least there weren’t rocks in that one.

***

Cam huffed as she shuffled through the narrow alley -- little more than a crack between two buildings -- that made up the door to their home. Most people couldn’t fit, and even those who could tended to avoid the area anyway. Everyone knew that squatting near the ruins left by the Cataclysm was just asking to get buried alive in your sleep one day. But when desperation drove their little group to scout out the area anyway, they had stumbled on a hidden jackpot.

Cam’s jacket scraped the wall as she squeezed past a large hunk of concrete that partially sealed off the alley exit. The rubble and debris scattered on the cracked pavement didn’t slow her down, even though it was pitch black -- well, as close to pitch black as Gotham ever got. The alley used to be a dead-end, but the building that had blocked it had crumbled in the earthquakes. It was sheer luck that it hadn’t plugged the alley entirely; Luthor’s clean-up had stopped long before it reached these parts of the Bowery. As it was, anyone looking in would just see the mound of rubble blocking the end and leave it alone, never knowing of the tiny path right up against the standing buildings that remained clear.

Cam made a sharp right, sticking close to the wall and carefully dodging the steel beams that stuck out at random intervals. She reached a hole in the wall of the apartment building -- abandoned after the earthquakes -- and slid through it. Now that she was safely inside, she pulled a lighter out of her pocket and flicked it on, using the tiny flame to find and light three of the stash of candles they kept on hand. The room that had been opened to the elements by the collapsing of the neighboring building was small, and the flickering light from the candles lit it pretty well, revealing the debris they had shoved in one corner and the ratty blankets all piled together in another, and the brown paper bag and cardboard cup-holder right in the middle of the-

Cam froze, staring at the cups and bag. She recognized the logo; belonging to a little cafe just inside the Bowery, the one that seemed to think it was on the other side of the dividing line, whose staff were cheerful and whose prices were just high enough that getting anything from there was a treat. Cam looked around, suddenly feeling very cold. Who had found them? Who had infiltrated their safe place? A scuffle at the door had her whipping around, hand falling to her pocket knife, but it was just David and Rani. She relaxed slightly and hurried the few steps over to them.

“Cam?” David asked, frowning slightly at the bag and cups. “Wha’s that?”

“Did ya snatch it?” Rani wanted to know.

“It was just...here,” Cam said. A part of her wanted to lie and say that she had gotten it with the wallet she had nicked. Rani at least would believe her, and the younger girl shouldn’t have to worry about this kind of thing. But that wasn’t smart, they had to make a plan. The other two stiffened. David walked carefully forward and examined the innocent-looking offering. He bent forward and gingerly picked up what turned out to be a sticky note. He held it up silently. A  crude image of a bat was sketched onto it, the edges spikier, the lines sharper than it was usually portrayed. Cam knew the different look was on purpose, she had seen that same bat just a few hours ago, on the chest of the hulking crime boss who had been acting so strangely and spoke with a Bowery accent.

“Whaddya think?” David asked quietly.

“I dunno.”

“Wha’s in the bag?” Rani asked. She was biting her lip, obviously trying to hide the longing gaze she had locked on the bag. David carefully unfolded the top and peeked inside. He swallowed hard.

“Cinnamon buns.”

Cam licked her lips unconsciously and edged closer. She picked up one of the cups and popped up the lid. “Hot chocolate,” she added.

“S’it look funny?” Rani asked, wringing her hands.

“It looks ok.”

“I don’t see anythin’ wrong.”

The three of them stared at each other for a long minute.

“Should we?” Cam finally asked.

Another moment of silence before David said, “Fuck it,” and reached into the bag. “I’m prolly gonna die ‘fore I’m eighteen anyway, might as well eat the damn cinnamon buns.” The girls nodded their agreement to these words of wisdom and the three of them clustered around, passing around the cups and bag. The food disappeared quickly and within a few minutes they were huddled together on the ground, licking icing from their fingers.

“Hey, Cam?” Rani asked, looking up from where her head was laying on Cam’s lap.

“Yeah?”

“D’ya think this counts as a Christmas miracle?” the girl asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Cam looked at David. He shrugged helplessly. The street pounded a lot of things out of you and one of the first to go was religion. She had half-baked memories of nine glowing candles and lots of people, but that all ended with the earthquakes. “I dunno, Rani,” she said, running her fingers through the younger girl’s choppy hair. “Maybe.”

They were all staring at the candles as they slowly burned down when Rani quietly began to sing. “Silent night, holy night, all is calm-”

“all is bright,” David joined in. Cam didn’t know all the words but that was ok, the others didn’t either. She hummed along and leaned her head on David’s shoulder, still carding her fingers through Rani’s hair.

Outside, high up on a neighboring rooftop, Jason watched through the infrared in his helmet. He was sure it was just his imagination, but he thought the three glowing blobs might have gotten just a bit warmer as they drank the hot chocolate. He sighed and sat back on his heels, the audio receivers in his helmet dialed all the way up so he could hear their conversation. The singing made a funny feeling rise in his chest, faint memories of purple and pink candles and hard pews and his mom’s voice saying “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled-”. He shook his head and stood up.

Sleep in heavenly peace, kids. The Red Hood was watching.

**Author's Note:**

> Idk if Jason walking around with his helmet on is at all someting he would do but I love the idea of the people in the Bowery trusting him so yeah.  
> This is kind of at the beginning of his Red Hood run when he hasn't proven himself as trustworthy to kids/women yet. He's working on that  
> Jason is canonically a Catholic priest in an alternate universe, why are there so few fics where he is Catholic or fallen away? (I'm biased, I'm Catholic :P But my point is still valid! XD)  
> The title is so corny I know but I couldn't think of anything else.  
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! May the joy and peace of Christ bless you and your families.


End file.
